As Danish author Hans Christian Andersen once said, “to travel is to live”. Traveling represents an important part of our daily lives: whether you are traveling to another country or simply commuting to school or work, you are always dedicating part of your day going somewhere.
The aim of the ITS World Congress is to see how travel can be made faster, easier, less time consuming and, this year especially, more environmentally friendly. In 2018 the ERTICO team has not only been busy organising the congress, but has also prepared a great number of events and presentations for its Partners and congress attendees.
A first important result of ERTICO’s international strategy was the start of a cooperation with ITS China and the creation of a Joint Innovation Centre. ERTICO then successfully brought together its Partners Volkswagen, Huawei, FIA, HERE and representatives from the City of Copenhagen, as well as with the CEO of Saphe, in a press conference on the first day of Congress, discussing with the media how smart mobility can improve the quality of life.
On the second day of Congress, the high level round table registered its highest attendance in 25 years of ITS World Congress with over 110 high-end stakeholders of the smart mobility sector.
Over 70 sessions were organised, collecting a number of attendees which went beyond expectations and the Congress “gave innovation a chance”, welcoming for the first time 30 startups to showcase their latest developments, including the winners of the European Startup Prize for Mobility, of which ERTICO is a proud partner.
Last but not least, ERTICO actively involved the participants with presentations of its Innovation Platforms and European projects. On a daily basis, presentations were offered by the ERTICO experts and project partners on a variety of topics, from blockchain to IoT, C-ITS, eCall and much more. During this Congress, the MaaS Alliance achieved an important milestone by signing a partnership with ITS America and hosting its fourth annual high-level event with the participation of the Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications, Anne Berner, the European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport, Violeta Bulc, and the Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum (ITF) Mr Young Tae Kim.
It was a pleasure and honour for ERTICO to be part of this continuous learning process, interacting with Partners, exchanging ideas and best practices with new stakeholders and working together to bring smarter, safer and cleaner transport to all. But innovation never sleeps!
ERTICO is already back on track to prepare the next ITS European Congress, which is set to take place in June 2019 in Eindhoven, and the ITS World Congress in October 2019 in Singapore.
